The best drills for concrete

Drilling concrete, brick, or block walls means one thing first: a hammer drill, not a regular one, and ideally an SDS rotary hammer if the job is big. Within the hammer-drill class, what separates a good concrete tool from a weak one is blow rate (BPM), torque, and whether the brand's battery system will still exist when you need a second pack. These six picks come from our 31-model comparison dataset, are all hammer-capable, and every spec below cites the same manufacturer-plus-independent-test standard the dataset uses. No affiliate links; prices are street-price orientation and move.

First, check you are in the right tool class

A cordless hammer drill handles anchor and plug holes in brick, block, mortar, stucco, and soft or occasional concrete, roughly up to 1/2 inch diameter. If you are drilling many holes into poured, cured concrete, or anything past 1/2 inch, the correct tool is an SDS rotary hammer; its piston mechanism hits several times harder and no cam-action drill matches it. Our hammer drill vs regular drill page has that boundary in detail. Everything below is the best of the class that also drills wood and steel like a normal drill.

The picks

Best under $50: Bauer 20V Brushless Hammer Drill, SKU 59368

575 in-lbs torque, 1800 RPM, 23,000 BPM, 3.2 lb bare, brushless, $49.99 bare tool. Sources: Harbor Freight 59368 product page, Tool Craze hands-on

The cheapest credible concrete-hole tool in the dataset. The BPM figure is the lowest here, which in practice means slower holes in hard material and more patience required, but the mechanism is real, the motor is brushless, and it carries a 1/2 in all-metal chuck. Harbor Freight's battery ecosystem is the trade: small selection, sold in one chain. For a couple of anchor holes a year on a strict budget, nothing else verified comes close to this price.

Best value kit: Hart HPHD25B (20V Brushless)

650 in-lbs, 2100 RPM, 31,000 BPM, 3.38 lb bare, brushless, kit about $98 with 2.0 Ah battery, charger, and side handle. Sources: HART product page, Pro Tool Reviews test

Mid-tier BPM at a budget price, sold as a complete kit with a battery and charger, and independently tested rather than judged on its spec sheet. The included side handle matters for concrete work specifically: hammer drilling in hard material is exactly when a bound bit spins the tool in your hands. Hart 20V is a Walmart-deep consumer platform, so spare batteries are cheap and everywhere.

Best power-to-weight in the middle: Makita XPH14Z (18V LXT)

1250 in-lbs, 2100 RPM, 31,500 BPM, 4.3 lb bare, brushless, $189 bare tool. Sources: Makita product page, Power Tool Insider spec record

Flagship torque and near-flagship blow rate, at a price below the top tier, on the 18V LXT system with its enormous catalog of shared-battery tools. The trade is weight: at 4.3 lb bare it is the heaviest pick here, which you feel drilling overhead into a ceiling. For block walls at chest height and general contracting-duty use, it is the sweet spot.

Most blows per minute: DeWalt DCD999B (20V MAX FLEXVOLT)

1219 UWO, 2250 RPM, 38,250 BPM, 3.54 lb bare, brushless, $239 bare tool; up to 42 percent more power with a FLEXVOLT battery attached. Sources: Pro Tool Reviews DCD999 review, DeWalt DCD999 manual tech data

The highest verified blow rate in the dataset, a three-speed gearbox, and electronics that unlock extra power when a FLEXVOLT pack is fitted, which is the closest any cam-action drill here gets to rotary-hammer territory. DeWalt rates it in UWO rather than in-lbs, so do not line the torque figure up against the in-lbs picks; see specs explained. The pick for repeated anchor holes in genuinely hard concrete, short of buying an SDS tool.

Best overall for serious work: Milwaukee 2904 (M18 Fuel)

1400 in-lbs, 2100 RPM, 33,000 BPM, 3.2 lb bare, brushless, $259 bare tool. Sources: Pro Tool Reviews 2904 review, Construction Tool Warehouse 2904-20 listing

The dataset's highest in-lbs torque rating alongside the Flex FX1271T, a 33,000 BPM hammer mode, kickback control that shuts the tool down in a bind-up, and a compact 6.9 in body that the longer DCD999 does not match. If drilling hard masonry is a regular part of your week and you want one drill that is also a monster driver, this is the one. The M18 platform is the deepest professional 18V/20V-class system, so the batteries will not orphan.

Budget-tier alternative platform: Hercules HCB92B (20V)

1200 in-lbs, 2000 RPM, 3.3 lb bare, brushless, $179 kit with batteries and charger at Harbor Freight. Sources: Harbor Freight catalog, Pro Tool Reviews head-to-head test

Flagship-class torque at Harbor Freight pricing, if you prefer the Hercules line to Bauer and want more driving muscle than masonry speed. BPM is not verified to our 2-source standard, so treat the hammer mode as occasional-duty. Worth it mainly when a Hercules kit sale undercuts everyone else's bare tool.

How to choose among these

Every model above also appears in the comparison table with sortable torque, speed, weight, and price columns and per-cell sources. New to blow rates and what they do and do not guarantee? The hammer drill explainer covers BPM in context, and the buying guide approaches the same buys by situation.

Related guides

Also on this site: drill bits for concrete, brick, and block to load once you have the hammer drill, the masonry bit size chart in inches and mm for sizing those holes, and drill chuck sizes explained for the SDS and 13mm questions. For the hole each anchor actually needs, concrete anchor bit sizes by fastener lists the bit diameter called out by every major wedge, sleeve, and screw anchor series. For drilling into a stucco wall rather than solid concrete, how to drill into stucco covers the thin-cladding assembly those anchors were never rated for.